Man watches fire consume his boyhood home

Anderson County firefighters train their hose on the side of a burning house on Crawford Road in Belton.

Independent Mail

BELTON - Jamie Williams watched his boyhood home go up in flames Tuesday.

"It was heartbreaking to come up the road and see it burning," said Williams, who is well known in the Cheddar community north of Belton for selling collard greens and other vegetables. He is a retired employee of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.

Williams, who lives a couple of miles from the single-story house at 704 Crawford Road that his father built in 1950, said he suspects that hooligans in the neighborhood set the blaze.

Anderson County arson investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, which started about 2:15 p.m.

The home was fully engulfed when about 30 firefighters from the county's Cheddar and Friendship stations and the Belton Fire Department arrived, said Brian Moon, chief of the Friendship station.

Moon said firefighters extinguished the blaze in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Williams and Moon both described the uninsured home as a total loss.

According to Williams, the house has been unoccupied for about 15 years. Williams maintained power and water service at the house and he said he had recently considered renovating it.

The house was still furnished with a stove, refrigerator and some old couches, Williams said. A piano that his mother bought for him when he was a child also was inside.